DA: Man attacked girlfriend with baseball bat

STEVENS POINT (WAOW) - A 28-year-old Plover woman was hit multiple times with a baseball bat and tied to a towel rack during a domestic dispute with her boyfriend after a night of drinking, according to a newly filed criminal complaint.

Jason Hyatt, 33, made his initial appearance in Portage County Circuit Court on Monday after being charged with eight felonies, including attempted first-degree homicide, false imprisonment, stalking and first-degree recklessly endangering safety.

A judge set a preliminary hearing for Thursday for prosecutors to present evidence to justify the charges. The punishment for the homicide charge is up to 60 years in prison.

The girlfriend told investigators that she was restrained against her will from leaving the Plover apartment where the attack occurred about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 6 after she returned home from a bar, the complaint said. The couple had been together earlier in the night and the girlfriend said Hyatt had been drinking since 1 p.m. Oct. 5.

Hyatt made multiple threats that he was going to kill the woman during the attack with an aluminum bat that was wrapped in a towel, the complaint said.

The woman told investigators Hyatt was upset with her when she got home, yelling “you made me ride my bike home,” the complaint said. “I've got nothing left to lose. I'm going to (expletive) kill you.”

The woman said at one point she tried to protect herself from from the bat swings by putting her head in a clothes dryer, the complaint said.

The woman said she took some pills Hyatt offered her to make her sleep but she spat them out, fearing she might die, the complaint said.

The woman told investigators she was tied to a towel rack with an extension cord and to a bed by Hyatt, the complaint said.

The woman said she was able to escape and get to a neighbor's home and call for help when Hyatt fell asleep in their apartment after telling her “he was sorry and that he loved her and he could not believe what he had done,” the complaint said.

Hyatt was arrested after Plover police woke him up in bed about 11:30 a.m. Oct. 6, the complaint said.